Baxter's transcription for Middle Chinese

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William H. Baxter's transcription for Middle Chinese is an alphabetic notation recording phonological information from medieval sources, rather than a reconstruction. It was introduced by Baxter as a reference point for his reconstruction of Old Chinese phonology.

Contents

Sources for Middle Chinese

The centre of the study of Chinese historical phonology is the Qieyun , a rime dictionary created by Lu Fayan in 601 CE as a guide to the proper reading of classic texts. The dictionary divided characters between the four tones, which were subdivided into 193 rhyme groups and then into homophone groups. The pronunciation of each homophone group is given by a fanqie formula, a pair of common characters respectively indicating the initial and final sounds of the syllable. Lu Fayan's work was very influential, and led to a series of expanded and corrected versions following the same structure. The most important of these was the Guangyun (1007–08), in which the number of rhyme groups was increased to 206, though without significantly changing the phonological system of the Qieyun. Since the Qieyun was thought lost until the mid-20th century, most scholarship has been based on the Guangyun, and its rhyme categories are still used. The Qing dynasty scholar Chen Li analysed the fanqie spellings of the Guangyun, determining which initial and final spellers represented the same sounds, and thus enumerating the initials and finals of the underlying system. [1] [2]

A series of rime tables from the Song dynasty applied a sophisticated analysis to the Qieyun system, though the language had changed over the centuries between the two. The initials were identified and categorized by place and manner of articulation. Finals were classified into 16 rhyme classes (攝shè). Within each rhyme class, syllables were classified as either "open" (開kāi) or "closed" (合hé), as belonging to one of the four tones, and as belonging to one of four divisions (等děng), indicated by rows of the table. The Qing philologists found that some of the finals of the rime dictionaries were always placed in the first row, some always in the second and some always in the fourth, and they were thus named finals of divisions I, II and IV respectively. The remaining finals were spread across the second, third and fourth rows, and were later called division III finals. [3] [4] The division III finals can be further subdivided on the basis of their distribution:

Baxter's notation

There have been many attempts to reconstruct the sounds or phonemes of the Qieyun system, conventionally called Early Middle Chinese, yielding a series of alphabetic transcriptions. Each of these is disputed to some extent, and many scholars doubt that the system corresponds to any single form of speech. The custom in Chinese scholarship is to neutrally describe a syllable with a string of six characters identifying its 攝shè, whether it is 開kāi or 合hé, the division, tone, Guangyun rime and initial. Needing a reference point for his reconstruction of Old Chinese phonology, Baxter designed an alphabetical presentation of the same information, rather than a reconstruction. [6] His system is a significant simplification of the Karlgren–Li reconstruction of Middle Chinese, but retains a similar structure, especially in the treatment of medials and vowels. [7]

Initials

Baxter's transcriptions of the traditional initials are as follows:

Initials with traditional names
stops and affricatenasalresonantfricativeglideDivision
tenuisaspiratevoicedtenuisvoiced
Labials幫p-滂ph-並b-明m-all
Dentals端t-透th-定d-泥n-I and IV
Lateral來l-I, III and IV
Retroflex stops知tr-徹trh-澄dr-娘nr-II and III
Dental sibilants精ts-清tsh-從dz-心s-邪z-I, III and IV
Retroflex sibilants莊tsr-初tsrh-崇dzr-生sr-俟zr-II and III
Palatals章tsy-昌tsyh-禪dzy-日ny-書sy-船zy-以y-III
Velars見k-溪kh-群g-疑ng-all
Laryngeals影ʔ-曉x-匣/云h-all

Notes:

Finals

Finals with vocalic endings could occur in the level, rising or departing tones; the few that occurred only in the departing tone are marked with -H in the following table. The chóngniǔ doublets of division III finals are not distinguished in the traditional categories. Adopting a purely notational device of Li Fang-Kuei, Baxter used the spelling -ji- for finals occurring in the fourth row of the rime tables, retaining -j- for those occurring in the third row.

Vocalic codas
Rhyme
class		開kāi合hé
Div. IDiv. IIIII mixedIII indep.Div. IVDiv. IDiv. IIIII mixedIII indep.Div. IV
果guǒ歌-a歌-ja戈-wa戈-jwa
假jiǎ麻-æ麻-jæ麻-wæ
遇yù魚-jo
模-u虞-ju
蟹xiè咍-oj皆-ɛj祭-j(i)ejH齊-ej灰-woj皆-wɛj祭-jw(i)ejH齊-wej
佳-ɛɨ佳-wɛɨ
泰-ajH夬-æjH廢-jojH泰-wajH夬-wæjH廢-jwojH
止zhǐ支-j(i)e支-jw(i)e
脂-(j)ij脂-(j)wij
之-i微-jɨj微-jwɨj
效xiào豪-aw肴-æw宵-j(i)ew蕭-ew
流liú侯-uw尤-juw幽-jiw [a]

The -j- of division III finals is omitted after palatal initials, which end in -y-. [12]

Finals ending in nasals -m, -n and -ng could occur in the level, rising or departing tones, with parallel finals ending in -p, -t and -k placed in the entering tone.

In Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction (Baxter & Sagart, 2014), the finals -ɛɨ and -wɛɨ (佳) are replaced by -ea and -wea. [13]

Nasal codas
Rhyme
class		開kāi合hé
Div. IDiv. IIIII mixedIII indep.Div. IVDiv. IDiv. IIIII mixedIII indep.Div. IV
咸xián談-am銜-æm嚴-jæm凡-jom
覃-om咸-ɛm鹽-j(i)em添-em
深shēn侵-(j)im
山shān寒-an刪-æn元-jon桓-wan刪-wæn元-jwon
山-ɛn仙-j(i)en先-en山-wɛn仙-jw(i)en先-wen
瑧zhēn痕-on臻-in [b] 殷-jɨn魂-won文-jun
真-(j)in諄-(j)win
宕dàng唐-ang陽-jang唐-wang陽-jwang
梗gěng庚-æng庚-jæng庚-wæng庚-jwæng
耕-ɛng清-jieng [c] 青-eng耕-wɛng清-jwieng青-weng
曾zēng登-ong蒸-ing登-wong蒸-wing
通tōng東-uwng東-juwng
冬-owng鍾-jowng
江jiāng江-æwng

The vowels æ, ɛ and ɨ are spelled ⟨ae⟩, ⟨ea⟩ and ⟨+⟩ in the ASCII transcription of the Baxter system.

Tones

The rising tone is marked with a trailing X, the departing tone with a trailing H. The level and entering tones are unmarked. [16]

Notes

  1. ↑ The 幽-jiw final also occurs after a few dental and sibilant initials, where it is spelled -iw. [11]
  2. ↑ The 臻-in final occurs only after retroflex sibilants, and is in complementary distribution with 真-in. [14]
  3. ↑ The 清-jieng final is spelled -jeng after dental and sibilant initials. [15]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Norman (1988), pp. 24–28.
  2. ↑ Baxter (1992), pp. 33–40.
  3. ↑ Norman (1988), pp. 28–34.
  4. ↑ Baxter (1992), pp. 41–43.
  5. ↑ Baxter (1992), pp. 69–81.
  6. ↑ Baxter (1992), pp. 27, 818–819.
  7. ↑ Branner (2006), p. 269.
  8. ↑ Baxter (1992), pp. 45–46.
  9. 1 2 3 Baxter & Sagart (2014), pp. 15–16.
  10. ↑ Baxter (1992), p. 58.
  11. ↑ Baxter (1992), p. 81.
  12. ↑ Baxter (1992), p. 31.
  13. ↑ Baxter & Sagart (2014), p. 20.
  14. ↑ Baxter (1992), p. 821.
  15. ↑ Baxter (1992), pp. 80–81.
  16. ↑ Baxter (1992), pp. 31–32.

Works cited

  • Baxter, William H. (1992), A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, ISBN   978-3-11-012324-1.
  • Baxter, William H.; Sagart, Laurent (2014), Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction, New York: Oxford Academic, ISBN   978-0-19-994537-5.
  • Branner, David Prager (2006), "Appendix II: Comparative Transcriptions of Rime Table Phonology", in Branner, David Prager (ed.), The Chinese Rime Tables: Linguistic Philosophy and Historical-Comparative Phonology, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 265–302, ISBN   978-90-272-4785-8.
  • Norman, Jerry (1988), Chinese, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN   978-0-521-29653-3.
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